A member of the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday that he has “never read anything that’s more sensitive” than the contents of the “Top Secret” Hillary Clinton emails identified by the State Department last week.
Utah Rep. [crscore]Chris Stewart[/crscore] also said during an interview with Fox New’s “America’s Newsroom” that there are “actually more” than 22 “Top Secret emails,” which is the number reported by the State Department. In a separate interview with the Washington Examiner, Stewart said that another seven emails are being withheld in full because of their sensitive nature.
“I have never read anything that’s more sensitive than what these emails contain,” Stewart told Fox. “They do reveal classified methods, they do reveal classified sources, and they do reveal human assets.”
“I can’t imagine how anyone could be familiar with these emails, whether they’re sending them or receiving them, and not realize that they’re highly classified,” the Republican continued.
Clinton and her allies have downplayed the existence of the classified emails on her personal email account, which were maintained on a private email server. Her campaign communications director, Brian Fallon, said last week that the upgrade of the “Top Secret” emails “appears to be over-classification run amok.”
“We understand that these emails were likely originated on the State Department’s unclassified system before they were ever shared with Secretary Clinton, and they have remained on the department’s unclassified system for years,” he added.
California Sen. [crscore]Dianne Feinstein[/crscore], a Democratic member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, complained in a statement that Clinton should not be “held responsible for email exchanges that originated with someone else.”
“The only reason to hold Secretary Clinton responsible for emails that didn’t originate with her is for political points, and that’s what we’ve seen over the past several months,” she said in a statement.
Asked Wednesday if Clinton sent or received the emails in question, Stewart said, “Oh, absolutely.”
“They were her emails,” he said, adding that the existence of the sensitive records on her private email server raise questions about legality as well as her judgement.
“Did Hillary Clinton demonstrate the judgement and the respect for protocol that would allow her to protect national security?” he asked.
“When I read these emails and when I see how she has exposed some of the most sensitive information, or potentially exposed that, I don’t see how we can say that she did demonstrate that judgement.”
Update: State Department spokesman John Kirby issued a statement after publication of this article pertaining to Stewart’s claim that seven additional Clinton emails would be upgraded to “Top Secret.”
“We are not aware of any additional documents that will be upgraded to Top Secret. If, in the course of our FOIA review process, it is determined that additional information should be classified as Top Secret we will do so,” he said.
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